Opinion & Analysis
What is “effective bounce” anyway?
Effective bounce sounds like a good description for what happens when a wedge shot works well, e.g. “he used the bounce effectively with that shot.” The phrase is more often used to describe how a wedge sole interacts with the turf, but it hasn’t often been defined. My aim with this article is to explain effective bounce and how to decide what sole design will work for you.
The purpose of a golf company’s educational material is to try to take fairly complex physics and explain it in a way that is simple and relatable, but still captures the basic meaning. This is a LOT easier said than done.
For wedges, bounce angle has traditionally been held up as the best attribute to explain how the complex geometry of a given wedge sole, delivered by a certain player, interacting with a particular kind of turf, will affect ball flight. Clearly this is a very intricate dynamic that we’re trying to simplify as best as possible to make a useful point.
Generally, a low bounce angle implies a sharper, blade-like impact that cuts through turf easily, whereas a wedge with high bounce angle has a more blunt impact. Our testing shows that when a club either doesn’t get into the turf sufficiently, or it digs in to the turf a lot, it leads to inconsistent shot making. It follows that a player with a swing that causes the wedge to dig too much will benefit from a wedge with more bounce. Conversely, a player who sweeps the club over the turf will get more consistent results with a wedge with less bounce.
Figure 1: 2 wedges with the same actual bounce angle (13 degrees) but different primary sole widths. As a result, the effective bounce numbers are very different.
There is, however, a lot more to a wedge sole shape than just the angle of the lead edge. Figure 1 shows two wedge sole designs from the toe view. Their measured bounce angles are identical, but one wedge has a much wider and deeper principal sole section. The back section of the sole, where it starts to rise up after the low point, doesn’t affect the initial ground impact, so it is not really part of the playable width.
The two wedges in Figure 1 will interact with the turf very differently, so just using a bounce angle to define a wedge sole is not sufficient. The wedge on the left, which has a thinner sole, will cut through turf more easily; the one on the right will avoid digging.
So, how do we communicate this? By putting an arbitrary number to it and calling it “effective bounce” or “plays-like bounce”.
Most companies these days, including Ping, don’t quote a measured bounce angle. We all use the term “effective bounce.” It’s a communication tool more than a scientific term. But since there’s no real definition or standard for this number, there’s a lot of variation in effective bounce numbers among golf companies. Ping’s 8-degree effective bounce wedge, for example, is probably a lot different from another company’s 8-degree effective bounce wedge. For this reason, there may be other measurements that are more intuitive and less open to interpretation.
Going back to Figure 1, the more visible and measurable attribute to use is the width of the principal sole section. This is easier to see and can be measured and compared from club to club. Sole width is not a perfect description of a wedge’s sole design, but it gives the golfer a better measure to use for comparison. To classify the sole of a wedge, you really need to know both bounce angle and sole width. Our Glide Thin Sole 60-degree wedge actually has 20 degrees of measured bounce angle, but an “effective bounce” of only 6 degrees. The main reason is the thin, 0.5-inch-wide sole. If you are just going to classify a wedge sole with a single number, the measured width is a more intuitive and comparable number than effective bounce angle. Simply put, a thin sole equates well with low effective bounce while a wide sole equates well with high effective bounce.
So, what kind of sole should you play? I often hear people say that better golfers play less bounce and higher-handicap players need more bounce. This isn’t really true. The fitting question comes down to club delivery and turf conditions.
Most players deliver a high-lofted wedge with something between -2 and -12 degrees angle of attack, and a shaft forward lean between about 4 degrees and 14 degrees. This is a very wide range.
Figure 2 (below) shows the same thin-sole wedge being delivered by two different elite-level golfers at Ping. The player on the left delivers the club with hands quite neutral and a shallow attack angle. On the right, the club is delivered with the hands well forward and a steep attack angle.
The sole interacts with the turf very differently. In the first case, the sole hits the ground with a very glancing blow, and despite the downward force at impact (ball goes up, club is forced down) it will not dig too much. In the second case, the lead edge of the sole presents a much sharper target to the turf and will tend to dig much more. For this second golfer, the thin sole presented in the picture will dig too much and a wide sole (with more effective bounce) will present a blunter target to the turf and be much more consistent.
Figure 2: The same thin sole wedge at impact with 2 very different types of swing.
There are many ways to swing a wedge. Even among our tour players there is a sizeable range from shallow to steep. If we made one sole design to cover both ends of the spectrum, it couldn’t be optimized for everyone. Often a top player will change their wedge for the course conditions.
A good example is Angel Cabrera. He has played Glide wedges with each of the thin, standard and wide soles on different weeks depending on the course conditions. It may actually be worth thinking about having a couple of different options in the most lofted wedge to switch out on harder or softer courses.
I always encourage people to get an expert fitting for these important scoring clubs, or at the very least demo a couple of different effective bounce options on real turf where possible.
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
‘Why would anybody want to change that swing?’ – Brandel Chamblee says PGA Tour star was wrong to change his swing
‘The stupidest freaking thing I’ve ever heard’ – Billy Horschel slams Open idea suggested by Padraig Harrington
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Pingback: Paul Wood explains bounce and effective bounce - very well, I might add...
DaveT
Mar 30, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Paul Wood and Don Wood agree that “effective bounce” or “net bounce” can be computed from actual bounce, flange width, and perhaps other parameters. Please post the formula for these quantities; some of us would like to know how to compute it.
Thanks,
DaveT
Paul Wood
Mar 31, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Dave, as Don mentioned, the formula or even the exact definition of what we mean by effective bounce or net bounce is going to be different from company to company. It’s also a key part of our internal knowledge. Hence the desire to boil all of the numbers and physics down to a simple system to communicate out to the world. In Cleveland’s case there’s the one dot, two dot… in our case we have the thin, standard and wide sole. If you’re really interested in computing the numbers you’d probably like a job in wedge design or research.
CT
Mar 30, 2015 at 6:16 pm
This sure is an eye opening article. No idea that bounce numbers stamped on a wedge are a manufacturers interpretation of how a wedge will play. IMHO manufacturers should state the actual bounce angle on the wedge (and the rest of the irons they sell) so that consumers know what they are testing/buying/playing. It is not that difficult to explain that “abc” actual bounce + “xyz” sole grind = a wedge that plays a certain way. I’ve only been playing the game for 30+ years and had no clue that one companies 10* bounce wedge could play the same as another companies 16* bounce wedge, or that one companies 12* bounce sand wedge could play much differently than another companies 12* bounce sand wedge.
Steven Thomas
Mar 30, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Paul:
The best lob wedge I have ever owned was a Hogan “Sure Out”. It had a very wide sole and only 6* of bounce. The bunkers at our course are very inconsistent. Some are very fluffy and some are not, so this was a great wedge for those situations. Our fairways are very firm, and tightly mowed too. These clubs are not legal anymore because of the groove configuration. Are there any club manufacturers that make a wedge with a wide sole and low bounce?
Paul Wood
Mar 31, 2015 at 12:19 pm
I would struggle to comment on other companies offerings, but based on what you’ve said you may want something like a wide sole wedge with a grind to take bounce off at the lead edge. That’s very possible through our WRX department (no specific link to GolfWRX). Most wedge companies will offer custom grinds for a specific case like this.
dcorun
Mar 30, 2015 at 2:52 pm
I could barely afford the set of irons I have now. I sure can’t a afford a set of wedges for each course condition I play. I just open or close the face and play the ball back or forward with the wedges that came with my set and do the best I can. I’ve actually gotten pretty good at it.
Zachary Smith
Mar 30, 2015 at 2:18 pm
I would say that you have an ‘off the shelf’ bounce angle. The effective bounce angle would be lower if you hood the face or play the ball back and much greater with an open face or ball forward position. As per usual, a simple concept is explained as complicated as possible. Certainly sales would have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Unfortunately for me, ball back=hosel hit
THE SWEET THONG
Mar 30, 2015 at 2:02 pm
CHACHING!- ANOTHER MILLION WEDGES SOLD TO THE SHEEP…..BHAAAAAA!
Paul Wood
Mar 30, 2015 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for the comments. I realized that I have been very remiss and not given credit to Cory Bacon, one of our design engineers, who put together a lot of the content and images for this piece. He’s one of the team that worked on the Glide wedges. Cheers Cory!
ChristopherKee
Mar 30, 2015 at 6:37 am
I spent 20 minutes explaining this concept to the GS associate trying to talk my out if custom ordering the PING Glide wedges and to get Cleveland 1 dots because they had lower bounce. I purchased the Glide in SS AND TS anyway… Had out two chip ins for birdie my first day with the new wedges. PING, please send GS some better product literature.
JT
Mar 30, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Lol! Ase the saying goes, you are your own best advisor..
Paul Wood
Mar 30, 2015 at 1:51 pm
Christopher, I’m happy you were confident enough to go with your own knowledge on this one. We are working on getting the best product literature and education we can to our accounts, but as you can imagine it’s not the easiest thing to do with such big organizations. There are some sales staff who really know their stuff and some who don’t – we’re just trying to tip the balance further to the well-informed.
MASSIVE MIKE!
Mar 31, 2015 at 2:58 am
As far as knowledgeable salesman at GS, RD and PGA SS,,,,, they are the equivalent of the salesman helping assist you in buying the right tie to go with what you think is your finely tailored suit!
Joel
Mar 29, 2015 at 11:35 pm
Everyone on this site should be forced to read this article. Well done good sir.
MJ
Mar 29, 2015 at 8:05 pm
There are so many bounce stories. The bounce is used on turf with a u shaped swing arc that slides under the ball starting 2 or 3 inches before the ball
What do you need bounce for if your going to strike the ball first
Try it Tiger
person
Mar 30, 2015 at 11:35 am
You forget that the head still interacts with the ground before the ball is fully launched from the club face. How the club reacts to hitting the ground is entirely dependent of the sole width and bounce. The more bounce the club has, the more the club “bounces” up and affects the ball flight. Just look at any iron/wedge shot in slo-mo and you will see even clean picked golf shots are affect by turf unless you are hitting like the middle of the ball with the leading edge.
MJ
Mar 30, 2015 at 12:59 pm
Wrong
The bounce is for the ball lifting up. Like a flap on an airplane wing which gave Sarezan the idea for bounce. Try a short pitch shot and see what happens when you slide club under the ball starting 2 inches behind ball. The ball pops straight up with no pinching.
Obviously this is only for shorter shots but can be used for full swing high lobs
Chuck
Mar 29, 2015 at 5:20 pm
This is a very good, very well-written and much-needed article. Kudos to Paul Wood and thanks to Ping for loaning him out to write this.
BIG STU
Mar 28, 2015 at 9:42 pm
He hit it dead on with that article. I have the Maltby video that also explains this same thing and Maltby says the same thing. It can be very confusing to the average golfer of what really effective bounce is. And like Mr Wood said different companies measure and state bounce in different ways. A very well written and factual article
johnnyb
Mar 28, 2015 at 3:09 pm
Great article! Very clear explanation of a concept that can be quite confusing. Last year I had an experience that made me realize how important proper bounce can be. I live in Germany where it rains all the time, and most courses are wet and soft. I played wedges with a lot of bounce, and they suited me really well over here. I flew to San Antonio, TX and played a tournament in the howling wind on a rock hard golf course. I really struggled with the simplest wedge shots. I bought the Glide wedges for this season. I ordered the 56 in the WS and the SS, and the 60 in the SS and TS. It was a hard sell to my wife, but I think it was a good investment.